Giving voice to Taiwan's working class

By Gavin Phipps, Taiwan Times, Sunday 21 December
2003, Page 18

Members of Black Hand Nakasi on stage at last year's Autumn
Struggle labor union rally in Taipei. Working closely with local labor
unions, the nine-piece combo helps raise money for the unemployed,
performs at rallies and holds workshops at which laid-off workers are
treated for depression througt music. PHOTO COURTESY OF BLACK HAND
NAKASI

Best known for its impromptu performances at labor demonstrations and
for squatting at factories faced with closure, The Black Hand Nakasi
(黑手那卡西) band's recent acceptance of a Taipei Cultural Award
(台北市文化獎) certainly doesn't mean the group is going to become
urbane and change it class-struggling ways.

Far from it. Its members will continue to take their message to the
streets and stand up for workers' rights. Whether they be
prostitutes or telecom and transport workers, and no matter under what
circumstances, Black Hand Nakasi will continue to fight the good
fight. And, according to band founder, Broadway Chen (陳柏偉), what
better way to continue than with a city government grant.

The city gives money to artists to create what are, and I don't
think I'm being rude when I say it, predominantly pieces of
meaningless rubbish. So it was about time it gave funds to someone who
was going to do something worthwhile with them, explained Chen.

The cash prize of NT$200,000, although a pretty paltry amount in
the big scheme of things, will certainly go some way to helping us to
promote the plight of the Taiwanese working class, Chen said.

Formed by a handful of members of the Informational Center of Labor
Education (台灣勞工教育資 發展中心) in the early 1990s, the group has
since become a key player in the nation's labor movement. None of
its nine members are full-time musicians and all hold day jobs within
the public sector.

I first took an interest in workers' rights in the early
90s. Taiwan's fledgling labor unions were pretty unorganized and
found it hard to get their messages across, recalled Chen, who
works for House of Migrant Empowerment, an organization that helps
Taiwan's foreign workers.

It was the Keelung Bus Company strike in 1992 that tipped the
balance for me, though. After they sacked all the workers and the
government just sat back and allowed it to happen I figured that
somebody had to stand up and tell the workers' story.

Setting out to give voice to the labor unions and support them at
demonstrations hasn't been an easy task. Over the years the group
has been involved in some rather ugly incidents. And while the
group's members have built up a good relations with several police
forces, Black Hand Nakasi has managed to attract the ire of others.

A couple of years ago we were squatting and holding performances in
a factory in protest of its impending closure when a group of private
security guards appeared with five or six dogs, recalled
Chen. The security guys let the dogs go at us. They [the dogs] were
barking at and biting whatever they could until we had all left the
building.

Although initially making a name for itself by organizing benefit
concerts and performing at labor rallies and demonstrations, the band
has recently taken to holding workshops at which its members teach
laid-off workers how to express themselves and deal with the traumas
of unemployment through music.

A lot of the people that come are in their 50s, and, having worked
all their lives, it can be very traumatic to find themselves
unemployed for the first time, explained guitarist/bassist Chuang
Yu-lin (莊育麟). Learning the guitar might seem insignificant, but
by teaching these guys something new it gives them an outlet for their
frustration.

The number of those currently turning up at the weekly meetings is
lower than the group initially anticipated, but the workshops have
proven a huge success. According to Chuang, he has managed to get a
group of elderly unemployed men so proficient on the guitar that they
now hold regular jam sessions on their own and also helped others to
rid themselves of the shame they feel when faced with unemployment.

We had one guy who came a few times and didn't say anything. He
sat there with his head down in total shame and embarrassment,
continued Chuang. I asked him to write some lyrics that summed up
his mood. Before you knew it he'd penned three songs, began to be
part of the group and is now a very active member of our
workshops.

The group made its long player debut in 1998 with Lucky as Shit (福氣
個屁), an album featuring not only the band, but the voices of roughly
30 recently laid-off factory workers.

Featuring a selection of folksy/rock renditions of traditional
Taiwanese workers' songs, such as The Brave Taiwanese Workers (勇
敢的台灣工人), as well as a Taiwanese-language version of
L'Internationale, the album was released to coincide with the 10th
anniversary of the Taiwan Independent Labor Movement (台灣自主工運).

The album's rather natty title was taken from a popular TV
commercial of the day and was a spoof of the catch phrase for Whisbih
(維士比), in which Hong Kong movie star, Chow Yun-fat (周潤發), was
seen to swig on the caffeine soaked energy drink with a group of
workers. Lucky as Shit may not have gone platinum, but it certainly
put the band on the map.

Every time I heard [Chow] say `you are lucky' in that
commercial I thought `what a stupid thing to say.' I mean,
factories were being closed down like never before. What on earth did
Taiwan's workers have to be lucky about? They were losing their
jobs and were plain out of luck, stated Chen.

Even before the culture award and the sudden upsurge in media interest
that has followed, it has been a busy year for the band. It has held
numerous workshops, performed with members of the Collective of Sex
Workers and Supporters (日日春關懷互助協會) at fund raising events for
unemployed prostitutes, taken an active roll in recent anti-war
protests, played at numerous labor rallies and even made time to
record and release a new album.

Released this week, Taiwan Buffalo vs. WTO (台灣牛vs. WTO)—the
cover art for which shows the Taiwan Buffalo giving the WTO (in the
guise of Uncle Sam) a good whooping—once again sees the group
joining forces with various labor groups for a series of melodies.

Helping the band to give musical voice to their concerns apropos
Taiwan's growing unemployment rate and high industrial accident
rate are members of the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters and
the Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational Injuries (工作傷害
受害人協會). The main target of the Black Hand's musical ire is
the WTO, an organization that, according to Chen, gives good reason
for Taiwan's working class to be distrustful of its professed
benefits.

There was a lot of media hype and talk before Taiwan joined the
WTO, but I'm pretty sure that a large percentage of the population
wonders what all the fuss was about. And, more importantly, quite what
Taiwan got out of it, said Chen. The price of rice wine went up
and the price of rice has fallen to an all-time low. Has it helped us,
the workers, or has it simply helped the rich to get even richer?